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The GPL Wins Again - Welte vs. Skype Technologies SA (Germany)

By Pamela Jones et al.

Today was the hearing in Skype's appeal of an earlier judgment against it for a GPL violation. Harald Welte, as part of the gpl-violations.org project, brought the matter to court in Germany back in February of 2007, seeking to enforce the GPL against Skype. The case is Welte vs. Skype Technologies SA, and he won an injunction in the lower court. But Skype wanted to appeal to the higher court in Munich, alleging ... hahahaha ... well, something about antitrust, à la Dan Wallace, I gather. You'll recall the Wallace v. FSF appeals court ruled on that theory in the US already:

The GPL encourages, rather than discourages, free competition and the distribution of computer operating systems, the benefits of which directly pass to consumers. These benefits include lower prices, better access and more innovation.

Just in case Skype is thinking deep second thoughts tonight.

Well, today was the hearing, and Welte reports that one of the judges told Skype's lawyer that if a copyright owner wants a publisher to publish his book in a green envelope, it might seem odd to the publisher, but he can't publish without the green envelope. In short, don't touch the GPL code if you don't follow the requirements of the license.

Like it or lump it. I think that's how one would translate into English the judge's mindset.

At that, after a break, Skype decided to accept the lower court decision and skip the appeal. And so the GPL wins again.

To all those who don't like the license: you don't have to use it. Just write your own code. But if you want to use GPL code, the license comes with it. It's a package deal. Thanks.

Full post as published by Groklaw on May 08, 2008 (boomark / email).